 |
|
| Author |
Message |
Anona.Mouse
Site Admin
User is Offline
Joined: 14 Jan 2007
Posts: 4076
Location: Under the cat, usually
|
| Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 6:10 pm Post subject: Two minutes of my time |
|
|
You'll recognise the call.
"Hello, is that Mr / Mrs Jingleblatt?" *
"My name is Gandalf, and I'm calling from INDHYJ LAB HXC. This isn't a sales call, I just wondered if you have two minutes to answer a short survey, just a couple of questions . . . "
I have just answered the fifth of these damn calls in the last week. That isn't the record, though - one unforgettable day the phone rang four times in succession. Each time I replaced the receiver it rang again, with another one of the things.
I'm sick to death of them. All the more so because we've been registered with the Telephone Preference Service since it began, so we shouldn't be getting any of them at all.
I've tried all sorts. I've tried telling them (politely) that I'm not interested. I've tried going along with the game as far as getting a call back from the supervisor, and then telling him or her what I think. I've tried explaining carefully that their company is breaking the law by cold-calling us. (The OH has been known to be quite inventive in dealing with them, at times.)
Sometimes the pest apologises and hangs up. Sometimes it protests. Explains. Once I was actually sworn at, as it hung up on me. That time I did wish I had made a note of the name and company.
On this latest occasion I explained, for the 943rd time, about the TPS. Oh, she said - but they only stop sales calls, and this isn't sales - it's marketing.
WHAT???
In spite of their "survey" offering you the chance of a "money-off voucher" - a voucher which for some inexplicable reason I am always lucky enough to win - what they want from you is your money. True, you will probably get a kitchen / bathroom / double-glazed airing cupboard out of it - but only if you pay through the nose first. (I know somebody who went along with it.) To me, this means they are trying to sell you something - and I call that a sales pitch. Which means something rather similar to "marketing" anyway.
Has anybody found a way of stopping these things? (Sorry, Dingle - boiling oil doesn't work for this particular species. It tends to have cooled and set long before it gets to the other end of the phone line.)
* = Names have been changed to protect . . . somebody or other. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Spry
Great Selkie o' Sule Skerry
User is Offline
Joined: 15 Jan 2007
Posts: 2216
|
| Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 7:02 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I just say "If you want to contact me, write!" then hang up before they can reply.
That can have it's funny side. We were having Sky telly fitted and were told that the man would phone us in the morning to let us know what time he would be arriving that day.
So the phone rang in the morning, I couldn't make out who it was or what he was on about so I gave him the above spiel and hung up!
_________________
Last edited by Spry on Wed Jun 04, 2008 7:07 pm; edited 1 time in total |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Spry
Great Selkie o' Sule Skerry
User is Offline
Joined: 15 Jan 2007
Posts: 2216
|
| Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 7:05 pm Post subject: |
|
|
He phoned back and quickly said "beforeyouhangupi'm theskymanandi'llbewithyouat3o'clockthisafternoon!"
_________________
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Wen
Leviathen
User is Offline
Joined: 15 Jan 2007
Posts: 585
Location: Deanburn
|
| Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 7:10 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I suppose I'm lucky, Anona. Thus far (touch wood, cross fingers, etc) I've just had to say I'm on the telephone preference service, before they get their words in. They apologise and go.
_________________
 The Kips, Pentlands avatar - Scald Law, Pentlands.  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Anona.Mouse
Site Admin
User is Offline
Joined: 14 Jan 2007
Posts: 4076
Location: Under the cat, usually
|
| Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 9:06 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Yes, but they shouldn't even get as far as "Hello" - that's what annoys me most. It's supposed to be illegal for them to phone you at all if you have registered your disinclination to receive cold calls - which is what the TPS is supposed to be about!
Trouble is, they gabble their company name so fast that you rarely remember it afterwards, or at least I don't. And if you ask them for it again, they're likely to hang up.
The people who actually do the phoning are only trying to earn a crust - it isn't them who choose the numbers to ring. But they're the ones who inevitably get the flack from grumpy people like me, who hate being disturbed when we're in the middle of something.
The whole business should be illegal. In fact it is illegal - however it is disguised. But nothing seems to stop it from happening. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Dingle McFarkle
Great Selkie o' Sule Skerry
User is Offline
Joined: 14 Jan 2007
Posts: 1003
|
| Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 9:59 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Have you tried simply telling them to.... er.... to go forth in a copulatory manner?
They sometimes report you to their supervisor who will then phone you back to complain about your verbal abuse of their employee. (So you simply tell them that if they don't (sweary-wurd) like the way you (sweary-wurd) talk, they should stop (sweary-wurd) phoning you.)
I'm not sure what the legality of my response is, but I really don't see how I can be held to be in the wrong. How can they make any formal complaint? Morally, it'd be the same as someone barging unannounced into your bathroom and then reporting you for indecent exposure.
And here's the bonus. Apart from the wonderful emotional release you can get from sometimes just blowing your top, I'm convinced there's a very practical reason why you should shout and swear and them.
I reckon they all use the same data base and, if you come across as seriously unpleasant, they note it on that data base...... And you'll find that the calls will stop for a good while thereafter.
So (sweary-wurd) the lot o' them! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Anona.Mouse
Site Admin
User is Offline
Joined: 14 Jan 2007
Posts: 4076
Location: Under the cat, usually
|
| Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 10:18 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Dingle McFarkle wrote: |
Have you tried simply telling them to.... er.... to go forth in a copulatory manner?
|
Yes, that's what one delightful girl said to me, just before she slammed the phone down . . . ! And I had been firm but polite with her, up to that point.
Your suggestion does have its attractions, I have to admit. But I'm not sure your "invaded privacy" defence would help, in the High Courts.
Remember a few months ago, the gentleman who was done for . . . errr . . . carrying out your instructions, with a bicycle? He had been in a locked hotel bedroom, when the cleaning staff broke in and declared themselves shocked and affronted.
 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Dingle McFarkle
Great Selkie o' Sule Skerry
User is Offline
Joined: 14 Jan 2007
Posts: 1003
|
| Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 10:33 pm Post subject: |
|
|
There was one occassion, however, when I went into a more creative mode.
An Indian lady told me that I had won a free holiday and that I could claim it at any time I liked in the next two years.
I became emotional and explained that I was due back in court for sentencing on Monday and would probably get four years. (I never had any luck.)
She told me that I could give the holiday to family and friends. So I (with even more emotion) explained that it was my family and friends who grassed me up in the first place.
She started to smell a rat, I think, when I started pleading for her to fix me up with a new passport as well as the free holiday. Then she started giggling and hung-up on me, the callous cow!
Anyway, someone else seems to have had a similar idea, although I still reckon sweary-wurds are more effective....... (And They cannae dae a thing aboot it!)
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=l5wrQNIz430 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Wen
Leviathen
User is Offline
Joined: 15 Jan 2007
Posts: 585
Location: Deanburn
|
| Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 10:58 pm Post subject: |
|
|
But Dingle, I agree with Anona. Why waste time being creative with them - write your novel and make some money with your creativity.
There's always a gap before they talk. I assume they are on automated dial-up and only pick up the call once you have. (Unless someone is in to pick up no real person addresses that number.) In that gap take a deep breath. As soon as someone says 'Hello (your name)' I just say 'I'm on TPS and I prefer against this type of call' and put the phone down immediately. They won't ring back ('cos it's automated - I think).
_________________
The Kips, Pentlands avatar - Scald Law, Pentlands. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Anona.Mouse
Site Admin
User is Offline
Joined: 14 Jan 2007
Posts: 4076
Location: Under the cat, usually
|
| Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 11:02 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Chatting them up can upset them, sometimes in a big way. (Mind you, you have to be a bit careful - remember they've got your name, address and phone number right in front of them!) |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
silvers
Telt ye ah could swim!
User is Offline
Joined: 15 May 2008
Posts: 244
Location: Whickham
|
| Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 11:15 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I don't get many these days, but I have two tacks
Firstly, I say "I can't remember asking you to phone me" then I say " Just a moment please..."
I go off and make a cuppa. Then usually, they are gone by the time I've drunk me tea...
Secondly, if its a call about car insurance I usually say something like " I might be interested as I've had five prangs this year...., but can you call me back another time as I'm busy at moment" ....
_________________
It's good to have a sense of humour .... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Anona.Mouse
Site Admin
User is Offline
Joined: 14 Jan 2007
Posts: 4076
Location: Under the cat, usually
|
| Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 11:28 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I'll admit I have used the cup of tea one. I think wasting their time (or their company's time - and phone bill) often seems to be the only way you can strike back at them.
When I was at university some of the other students took on these pestering jobs to eke out their grants, but they didn't enjoy doing it. One woman (an older student, like me) found it so distressing, being required to sell stuff nobody wanted to people who couldn't afford the necessities of life, that she gave up after the first half-morning.
Much more popular was volunteering at the medical school to test new drugs, and they reckoned it paid good money. One young man was very blase about going in to test a new batch of pills - but came back looking a little green about the gills. We all thought he'd had a bad reaction - but it turned out that the medication he had thought would be in pill form was in fact to be supplied as a packet of suppositories . . . |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
silvers
Telt ye ah could swim!
User is Offline
Joined: 15 May 2008
Posts: 244
Location: Whickham
|
| Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 7:27 am Post subject: |
|
|
Well, that would probably push up the price ...
_________________
It's good to have a sense of humour .... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Anona.Mouse
Site Admin
User is Offline
Joined: 14 Jan 2007
Posts: 4076
Location: Under the cat, usually
|
| Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 3:42 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Apparently the one that paid best was the experiment where they stopped your heart, to demonstrate to the students how to re-start it.
Somehow that one didn't appeal to me. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
silvers
Telt ye ah could swim!
User is Offline
Joined: 15 May 2008
Posts: 244
Location: Whickham
|
| Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 4:11 pm Post subject: |
|
|
The phrase 'arrest me ' springs to mind...
At least in this country they don't 'buy' blood from you, as is rumoured about good ol U S of A .....
_________________
It's good to have a sense of humour .... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
| |
| Recent Topics |
» Litter
by Anona.Mouse on Mon Sep 01, 2008 2:40 pm
» A Man of God?
by Spry on Mon Sep 01, 2008 1:44 pm
» Accu weather forecast on this forum
by Anona.Mouse on Sun Aug 31, 2008 7:06 pm
» Penicuik Pool
by soup on Sun Aug 31, 2008 1:27 am
» Bumbling in
by Spry on Thu Aug 21, 2008 5:45 pm
» Four Midlothian Post Offices to close
by Anona.Mouse on Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:56 pm
» War crime
by Spry on Sun Aug 03, 2008 3:15 pm
» Just run that one into me again . . .
by Anona.Mouse on Thu Jul 31, 2008 4:33 pm
» Deep Sea Fish (interesting article)
by silvers on Thu Jul 31, 2008 3:44 pm
» Roy Walker - Festival Fringe
by Anona.Mouse on Sun Jul 27, 2008 1:39 am
» Was there ever a Golden Age ? (BBC website 16 07 08)
by Anona.Mouse on Thu Jul 17, 2008 11:42 pm
» Bring back ----
by Anona.Mouse on Tue Jul 15, 2008 8:01 pm
» Weather Warning!
by Big Davie on Wed Jul 09, 2008 3:52 pm
» This is really scary
by TattieBogle on Wed Jul 02, 2008 10:07 pm
» Balerno days
by TattieBogle on Tue Jul 01, 2008 6:46 pm
» H M T Lancastria
by Anona.Mouse on Sat Jun 14, 2008 4:36 pm
» Two minutes of my time
by silvers on Thu Jun 05, 2008 4:11 pm
» penicuik u.f.s.childrens gala day
by Ben_Ledi on Tue May 27, 2008 9:42 pm
» Language and pronunciation
by silvers on Sat May 24, 2008 4:44 pm
» Hi-ho, silvers!
by Anona.Mouse on Mon May 19, 2008 3:13 am
» Glencorse Kirk
by Anona.Mouse on Tue May 13, 2008 3:39 pm
|
|
| |
